 "Gavel, Law & Order")
Anti-conversion laws are a set of judicial rules that prevent or prohibit the conversion from one religion to another. These laws are meant to prevent forced religious conversion of individuals and to prevent religious groups from recruiting members from other religions.
The specific provisions of anti-conversion laws may be enforced through criminal or civil penalties.
Article 25 of the Indian Constitution states that every citizen has "freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion. Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this Part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice and propagate religion". It also grants all religious groups the right to control their own religious affairs.
According to the US Library of Congress (LOC), laws restricting religious conversions were originally introduced by princely states headed by Hindu royal families during the British colonial period — especially during the 1930s and 1940s.
Failed attempts
Following independence, the Indian Parliament introduced anti-conversion bills but none of them were enacted. First, the Indian Conversion (Regulation and Registration) Bill was introduced in 1954, which sought to enforce “licensing of missionaries and the registration of conversion with government officials”. The bill failed as it could not gather majority support in the Lok Sabha.
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This was followed by the introduction of the Backward Communities (Religious Protection) Bill in 1960, which aimed at "checking conversion of Hindus to ‘non-Indian religions’ which, as per the definition in the Bill, included Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism".
After a few years, the Freedom of Religion Bill was introduced in the Parliament in 1979. It sought “official curbs on inter-religious conversion.”
However, both bills were not passed by the Parliament as they could not gather political support.
In 2015, the law ministry had suggested that a law against forced and fraudulent conversions could not be created at the national level as law and order is a state subject under the Indian Constitution. However, state governments have the authority to enact such laws.
Implementation in states
Over the years, several states enacted “Freedom of Religion” legislation to restrict religious conversions carried out by force, inducements or fraud.
“Freedom of Religion” laws are currently in force in eight states in India, namely Odisha (1967), Madhya Pradesh (1968), Arunachal Pradesh (1978), Chhattisgarh (2000 and 2006), Gujarat (2003), Himachal Pradesh (2006 and 2019), Jharkhand (2017), and Uttarakhand (2018).
The laws passed in Himachal Pradesh (2019) and Uttarakhand also declare a marriage to be void if it was solemnised for the sole purpose of conversion.
Further, the state of Tamil Nadu passed a similar legislation in 2002 but it was repealed in 2006 following protests by Christian minorities. Rajasthan too passed a similar legislation in 2006 and 2008, but the bills could not receive the approval of the governor of the state and also the President.
In November 2019, the Uttar Pradesh Law Commission suggested enacting a new law to regulate religious conversions. This led the state government to promulgate the recent ordinance.
In recent years, India has witnessed multiple debates over the use of anti-conversion laws. Some people believe that these laws are necessary to protect the cultural and social cohesion of the country, while others say that these laws are used as a tool to suppress minority religions and violate the right to freedom of religion, which is protected by international human rights laws.
The Supreme Court of India has ruled that anti-conversion laws are constitutional as long as they do not interfere with an individual’s right to freedom of religion.
According to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) reports of 2016 and 2018, there are very few arrests or prosecutions under these laws but they “create a hostile, and on occasion violent, environment for religious minority communities because they do not require any evidence to support accusations of wrongdoing”.
A recent report by the USCIRF in March this year stated that anti-conversion laws promulgated by state governments in India “violate international human rights law’s protections for the right to freedom of religion or belief”.
It stated that the laws violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Arrests under the law
The USCIRF has highlighted certain incidents of arrests, including an incident in 2017, where three Christians were arrested in the Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh following allegations that they were converting people.
In October 2022, a 24-year-old man was arrested in Bengaluru under the Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Act, 2022, the anti-conversion law that came into force on September 30, 2022 in the state.
In February this year, 16 persons were arrested under the UP Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act for allegedly luring people to convert to Christianity in Muradpur Kotila village.
In May 2023, as many as 18 persons were arrested in Uttar Pradesh under the anti-conversion law for offering money to convert people to Islam.
Punishment under the law
The Chhattisgarh Religion Freedom (Amendment) Act, 2006 legalised either three-year imprisonment and a penalty up to Rs 20,000 or both for offenders.
The Haryana Prevention of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2022, provides a penalty of one to five years imprisonment and a fine of Rs one lakh.
The Jharkhand Freedom of Religion Act, 2017 imposes imprisonment of up to three years and a fine of Rs 50,000 or both.
The Orissa Freedom of Religion Act, 1967 imposes one-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5,000, or both.
The Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020 enforces imprisonment of one to ten years in prison.
According to the Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Act, 2022, a forced conversion is punishable by imprisonment for three to five years and a fine of Rs 25,000.
Around the world
In Algeria, the constitution declares that Islam is the state religion. It introduced religious conversion law in 2006. According to the law, an attempt to convert a Muslim will be penalised with five years in prison and a fine of $70 to $140.
Bhutan introduced an anti-conversion clause in 2011 which imposes an imprisonment of three years.
The Constitution of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) states that it is illegal to convert from Islam and leaving the Islamic faith is a crime punishable by death.
